A Pilates reformer exercise apparatus typically includes a wheeled platform carriage which rides on parallel rails or tracks on a rectangular wooden or metal frame. Most devices employ a series of parallel springs or elastic members which connect the carriage to the foot end of the frame. The springs are manually interchangeable in order to provide a variable resistance.
The carriage typically includes stationary shoulder pads and a head rest. It is desirable to be able to convert the carriage with its raised shoulder pads and a head rest into a flat surface.
A foot bar is located at the foot end of the device so that the user can press one or both feet against the foot bar and push the carriage against the spring resistance. Adjusting the position of the carriage in relation to the foot bar is important to accommodate different body types, and is typically accomplished by manually moving a spring bar into different gear settings at the foot end of the reformer or by adjusting the foot bar position. It is desirable to provide a simple mechanism which allows for gear adjustment without requiring the user to interrupt the flow of exercise to make the necessary adjustment.
Pulleys are often located at the head end of the reformer frame. The pulleys, may be adjustable in height during exercises where the user pulls the carriage by means of a rope or strap threaded through the pulley. It is desirable to provide a fully articulating swivel pulley, thereby enabling the user to pull the carriage through its entire path without binding or dragging. It is also desirable to allow the user to adjust the height position of the pulley, and to lower the pulleys to a height below the reformer rails.
Reformers are usually over 7 feet in length, and commercial models exist either as stationary units, or stackable units. The stationary units are difficult, impractical or time-consuming to move. Wheels have been added to the legs of such stationary units, but are of limited value, as they are bulky and ungainly to move, while the large amount of space required for the footprint of the unit remains the same. Stackable units typically require at least two persons to break down and stack in another location, or on a rolling cart, which then is wheeled to another location. It is, therefore, desirable to provide a device that can be folded into a minimal, space-saving footprint, which can be transported, if desired, by one individual.
It is desirable from the standpoint of economy of cost and space to provide a integrated Pilates machine which combines three Pilates machines-reformer, pole system and mat in one footprint, thus enabling the user to perform in this one machine most of the exercises in the full Pilates repertoire. In the current invention, the user can with no or very little compromise, and with ease of transition, perform exercises in the reformer mode, the pole system mode, and in a mat flat padded platform mode.
The present invention provides an attractive, durable, versatile, space-saving, and cost-saving commercial Pilates machine, which may be easily folded in to a minimal footprint and transported and stored out of the way.